The present invention relates to a thermogravimetric apparatus for measuring the dependency of the weight of a sample upon temperature.
Generally speaking, existing thermal analyses are divided into thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetry using a thermobalance. Of these, differential thermal analysis has been used for many years, but its measuring accuracy and performance have remarkably improved in recent years with progress in instrumentation.
Moreover, analysis per se has a wide field of application so that it is widely used for analyzing the properties of materials, for investigating and developing new materials, and further for quality control. Partially automated apparatus exists, but no thermobalance for thermogravimetry has ever been automated and made continuous, so that its measurements are manually performed. In recent years, therefore, continuous measurement has been desired in thermal analyzers.
In the case of thermogravimetry using a thermobalance, one sample container is replaced by another for each measurement. Since the sample containers take different positions for the measurements, manual methods are inefficient for making measurements.